RenRen and Skimpy Financials

OK, sorry, that title was really forced. So the supposed Facebook of China, Renren ($RENN), had its IPO today. Everyone who’s anyone had a piece of it, from Morgan to Merrill. The stock had a solid debut, up 29% even though the overall market is in de-risk mode this week.

My quick take on it, without having done any serious due dilly, is that this is a story with huge growth potential but a big knock against it right now – shady financials. My friend Trader Mark has the story about how the company’s head Audit Committee guy just resigned out of nowhere. Not my cup of tea but I’ll be watching it.

In honor of Renren’s debut, I’m bringing back two important posts on Chinese IPOs (at the suggestion of Joe Weisenthal). They’re satirical as hell but good satire contains some vicious truth in it. Hope you get something out of them…